The Ukraine-Russian crisis is one of the biggest an on-going global problems today with over a hundred people dying on the front line every day.
The fight over the Ukrainian region of Crimea started in April 2014 and has spread to Eastern Ukraine.
Before this crisis, however, Ukraine and Russia had two of the fastest developing leagues in the world, so how have they been affected by the fighting?
Russia are due to host the 2018 World Cup but insist the preparation for the tournament will not be affected by the fighting.
Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister and a member of the FIFA executive committee, told journalists at in Rio's Museum of Modern Art following the 2014 Brazil World Cup “I can't see any major issues. It's a different subject and one that will not interfere in the preparations for the World Cup at all."
The Ruble has fallen a third against the Euro since April and all Russian League are feeling the strain. FC Rostov, who are based in the South East, won the Russian Cup last season but are now rock bottom of the table.
FC Rostov didn’t play their players in June, July, August, September, November or December and were hit with a transfer embargo for the January transfer window.
However this is just one case. There are many others thought all levels of Russian football.
Ukrainian football has been hit the worst by the fighting. Six players from Ukraine’s biggest team Shakhtar Donetsk refused to return to the city after a pre-season match in France.
Alex Teixeira, Fred, Dentinho, Douglas Costa, Facundo Ferreyra and Ismaily at the time had a reported transfer market value of £46 million and where told by club president Rinat Akhmetov they may face sanctions if they do not return.
The players re-joined the squad after the club was moved to the West due to their stadium and other facilities were damaged by shelling.
Shakhtar Donetsk now play 600 miles away at the Donbass Arena, in the western city of Lviv and drew European giants Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League.
In August three clubs based in the Crimea - TSK Simferopol, SKChF Sevastopol and Zhemchuzhina Yalta – all joined the Russian third tier.
They had to change their names and were given Russian addresses. TSK was previously known as SC Tavriya, while SKChF from the city of Sevastopol had been playing in the Ukrainian Premier League as FC Sevastopol.
A SKChF spokesmen told the BBC "We had certain reasons to do that [change the club's name], It had to be [now known as] another club, not the one that is registered at the Ukrainian Football Federation.
"We got a Russian address and changed the squad, with players who have Russian passports, because we can't use the Crimean players yet." He continued.
The Ukrainian Football Federation has submitted a complaint as the Russian Football Union didn’t inform FIFA or UEFA of their decision to involve these teams in their decision to incorporate the teams.
The Ukrainian Football Federation Anatoly Konkov said in his letter to Sepp Blatter "As the president of the Ukrainian national association, I am asking you to take all necessary actions to deal with the situation, including applying sanctions. This is a matter for the whole of Ukrainian football."
SC Tavriya and FC Sevastopol both played in the Ukrainian top flight last season and in the proposed plans to end the conflict there are plans to form a united league were Russian and Ukrainian teams compete against each other, but with no end to the conflict in sight it seems like these proposals are a years away from even being considered.
In a world where there is so many important issues, football is often used as a scapegoat from many people to escape the reality of real world problems. We all know of the effect football can have on people and on the world but this is just one example of when football has to be put on the back burner to deal with other problems.
Source: DSG
